Best components to OC Conroe E6600 2.4Ghz to 3.6Ghz+

blackstoneJul 9, 2006, 12:38 AM

Thanks to the advice of several of TG Forumz's tech gurus and overclocking afficianados, I have decided on an Intel Conroe E6600 2.4Ghz chip as my CPU for a new build. I now need to match it with a crossfire motherboard and ram that will best facilitate overclocking. I want to get the most performance out of this chip as I can.

I am looking for advice as to what

(1) crossfire motherboard (brand/model/ect) -note: I will be using creative x-fi so onboard sound is not a concern.

and,

(2) ram (type, make, model, manufacturer, settings, ect)

to use to really push this chip to its full potential. My CPU cooler will likely be a vapo chill mini (not the big expensive vapochill phase changer), which is a fancy air cooler and my case will be Silverstone's flagship TJ07 case, which has excellent airflow.

Please keep your comments on point and do not flame posters, ect. Thanks!

Yes, but when overclocking as high as you plan, you'll want very good memory.

Yes definatly you will want some good RAM but its not required. I use some cheapo RAM and its working out ok for me I do however think buying some good RAM will get you a higher OC and also if it doesnt allow for a higher OC it will allow you to get all that performance your OCing for in the first place ! I have my eye on a couple of Gigs of Patriot ram.

From what I have read about RD600, I thought that the memory does not limit your FSB overclock.

Quote:

The most notable feature of the RD600 is the memory controller. ATI has developed an elaborate memory controller that operates asynchronously from the front-side bus. No more memory dividers means the front-side bus can be overclocked drastically without being limited to memory. There will also be support for DDR2-1066 too.

Ok, I understand now. I don't think I'm going to wait for RD600, however. That might be a future upgrade. Do you know if it would be possible to do just one graphics card and another graphics card for physics on that platform?

Do you know if it would be possible to do just one graphics card and another graphics card for physics on that platform?

That article about the RD600 states that it supports a 3-card CrossFire setup, and ATi has stated that they will also allow for 2-card setups where one card does physics and one card does graphics. From this, one can deduce that RD600 will support such a 2-card configuration, but I don't have a link to back it up.

@tmacWhere did you read that RD600 comes out in November? I somehow managed to miss that detail (unfortunately). I didn't see a release date listed in that Dailytech article. The AMD version (RD580) is already out, so I was hoping they had no reasons to delay the Intel version.

Ok, I understand now. I don't think I'm going to wait for RD600, however. That might be a future upgrade. Do you know if it would be possible to do just one graphics card and another graphics card for physics on that platform?

I think I'll just sit back and wait for DFI RD600. Plenty of things to do while all of you guys play Guinea pig and work out the kinks for me.

@tmacWhere did you read that RD600 comes out in November? I somehow managed to miss that detail (unfortunately). I didn't see a release date listed in that Dailytech article. The AMD version (RD580) is already out, so I was hoping they had no reasons to delay the Intel version.

It's cool dude. You just had me worried there for a bit because I hadn't heard about any delay on the release.

I guess for memory I'll go for the absolute best I can get with respect to both latency and clock speed. Initially I wasn't really concerned about the latency aspect, but I don't have a problem with spending $30 more than I would have to get top notch hardware (ie, the G.Skill memory linked above, as that is the only DDR2-1066 Cas 4 memory that newegg carries).